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Upon this Jermin reluctantly consented to drop the matter for the present; and he soon drowned all thoughts of it in a can of flip, which Guy had previously instructed the steward to prepare, as a sop to allay his wrath. Nothing more ever came of this. LESS than forty-eight hours after leaving Nukuheva, the blue, looming island of St. Christina greeted us from afar.
And he looked sharply among the sailors, and, at last, right into the eye of the cooper, whom everybody was eyeing. "Well, sir," faltered Bungs, "we can't say anything against Mr. Jermin's seamanship, but " "I want no buts," cried the consul, breaking in: "answer me yes or no have you anything to say against Mr. Jermin?" "I was going on to say, sir; Mr.
Anxious to pack the ship off as soon as possible, we answered, by all means. Some went so far as to laud the Julia to the skies as the best and fastest of ships. Jermin too, as a good fellow, and a sailor every inch, came in for his share of praise; and as for the captain quiet man, he would never trouble anyone.
I'll take no insolence;" and, in a tremor, Wilson hurried over the side in the midst of a volley of execrations. Shortly after his departure, the mate ordered the cook and steward into his boat; and saying that he was going to see how the captain did, left us, as before, under the charge of Bembo. The departure of the consul and Jermin was followed by a scene absolutely indescribable.
"Avast! avast!" roared Jermin, making a spring toward Bembo, and dashing two or three of the sailors aside. At this moment the wretch was partly flung over the bulwarks, which shook with his frantic struggles. In vain the doctor and others tried to save him: the men listened to nothing.
In the midst of a portentous silence, the consul unrolled his papers, evidently intending to produce an effect by the exceeding bigness of his looks. "Mr. Jermin, call off their names;" and he handed him a list of the ship's company. All answered but the deserters and the two mariners at the bottom of the sea.
Attributing to Wilson this unaccountable remissness on the part of those ashore, Jermin, quite enraged, now determined to stand boldly in upon his own responsibility; trusting solely to what he remembered of the harbour on a visit there many years previous. This resolution was characteristic. Even with a competent pilot, Papeetee Bay, is considered a ticklish, one to enter.
Jermin," he cried loftily, and not deigning to notice the respectful salutation of the person addressed, "Mr. Jermin, tack ship, and stand off from the land." Upon this, the men looked hard at him, anxious to see what sort of a looking "cove" he was. Upon inspection, he turned out to be an exceedingly minute "cove," with a viciously pugged nose, and a decidedly thin pair of legs.
He was always for having a fight; but the very men he flogged loved him as a brother, for he had such an irresistibly good-natured way of knocking them down, that no one could find it in his heart to bear malice against him. So much for stout little Jermin.
The Mowree was there, as usual, scowling by himself; and Jermin walked to and fro in deep thought, every now and then looking to windward, or darting into the cabin and quickly returning. With all our light sails wooingly spread, we held on our way, until, with the doctor's glass, Papeetee, the village metropolis of Tahiti, came into view.
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